Russia may ban importing Lithuania's meat products

Russia may put a ban on meat products' import from Lithuania April 7, the Eurasian country's watchdog of veterinary and phytosanitary safety said Wednesday.

Poland is also included in the ban list, said Xinhua quoting Rosselkhoznadzor, Russian veterinary and phytosanitary safety service.

"In the past, there were more announcements like this, and we will look for decision together with the European Commission," Lithuania's Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius told media in Brussels.

Jonas Milius, director of the State Food and Veterinary Service of Lithuania, told local media that he had not received official information from Russia about the ban.

He, however, confirmed that Lithuania and Russia have been negotiating about meat product certificate issues with no effective agreement being reached.

The alleged ban will follow a block of all EU pork products imposed by Russia January 29, due to African swine fever virus detected in wild hogs near the Polish-Lithuanian border.

Total losses due to Russian meat imports ban to Lithuania could reach as much as 90 billion LTL ($36 billion) per year, according to estimates by Lithuanian Association of Meat Producers.